Promises and Writing Fate
by Hathowda Jun
Summary: One shot, a short look at one of Eragon's and Oromis's lessons during the training in Eldest. Explores what it might mean to promise something in the Ancient Language and why.


Eragon and Oromis were having one of their lessons.

"Tell me Eragon finariel, can you guess why we can't lie in this language?" he asked in the Ancient Language.

Eragon was silent. He struggled a bit with the words. He hadn't learned the language enough yet to present hypothetical possibilities.

"I see"

And then he remained silent for a long time despite the pressing war. Eragon only hoped that whatever Oromis was about to say was worth the time.

"It's like this" Oromis said carefully. Now that he noticed it, Glaedr seemed to have been awakened properly.

 _Did he take the time to awaken him?_ Eragon thought. _It must be serious then to take such a precaution!_

"When you promise something in the Ancient Language, how is it usually presented?"

Eragon bunked the Ancient Language. Connected to his energy reserve or no, speaking promises was a no especially after knowing of Elva.

Opting the common tongue, he said "As a dealing of sorts? A bargain?"

"I meant the grammatical structure, Eragon" Oromis said.

Eragon had to pause to think of the several kinds of tenses he'd been taught. When he began counting with his fingers, Oromis sighed and said "You don't have to list all the specific sub-tenses. Just say the blanket tense they come under"

"Future tense?"

Oromis nodded. Eragon couldn't help but notice an unsaid relief like _Oh, finally_ emanate from him. But his outward demeanour was perfectly relaxed and composed. Eragon decided he was projecting his own imagination on his mentor.

"Now, to take another angle on the subject. What is the Ancient Language used for, primarily?"

"To cast magic" Eragon answered brightly

"What about temporal magic, then?" Oromis introduced with a verbal flourish in his tone. He patiently waited for a response from Eragon, indicating that he'd had an epiphany and that the lesson was unnecessary.

"Tempo-what? I'm sorry mentor but the dictionaries I'm studying do not cover that word yet. Does it have something to do with a jail?" Eragon asked

"No, no. It has nothing to do with jails, though that can be…debated. But it's unrelated. Temporal is the word used to describe something related to time. It's an adjective" and after Eragon was still blank "something used to describe a noun"

"Oh, an adjective, yes. So temporal magic…"

Eragon ended up getting confused.

"Is it impossible?" Eragon asked "Time travel, I mean?"

"It seems that we" Oromis was now in full lecture mode "are stuck to one timeline and cannot perceive its multitudes as such. So when we speak something about the future in the ancient language, it takes a small amount of our energy to ensure that what we have spoken _will_ happen"

Eragon was dumbfounded "If we can change reality just like that then why-"

Oromis held up a hand. _Let me finish_ was the general message. Eragon relaxed back into his chair.

"We have to think about the past as well. This is the reason why we can't speak anything but the truth in the Ancient Language. To have done one thing and say that it happened otherwise implies you wish to change the past. This cannot happen without a great expenditure of energy, proven to be greater than what the universe can even possess at a given time"

"What proof?" Eragon asked.

"Something for later. For now, just know that determining the future is not that simple either. Whatever you promise in the ancient language will come true in a roundabout way if you don't fulfil it directly. It is after all a language and its meaning has some room to get twisted around. This is in essence, why we are bound to the promises we make: we cast spells that determine our own futures"

"I still do not understand why we can't just recite our perfect life in detail as we promise it to ourselves and get away with it"

Oromis finally replied "That is because we want to preserve our free will. It is seen among our people that…it is better to leave events to their course than to assume a deterministic universe. And the language is not one of infinite precision. It serves to communicate our intent to the energy and magic, but for delicate matters such as altering our fates, it's not sophisticated enough"

Eragon scowled and then asked "But what about dragon bones? A fortune teller once gave me a reading"

"It might be that the dragons may comprehend the timelines subconsciously" Glaedr had opened an eye now looking nowhere in particular "but all in all, the method as far as I know, gives you symbols on the bones of deceased dragons. The fortune teller interpreted it for you, am I correct?"

"It was so" Eragon answered

"Then herein lies the problem: we can never condense the infinitely sophisticated communication the bones tell us, in the case we assume the conjecture is true, into our tongues"

Eragon had still more questions

"If there are runes for dragon bones to show, then does it mean at least a part of our futures are already set in stone?"

"It might seem so"

"But the fortune teller said I had a lot of choice compared to others"

"Well, then free will appears to be relative" Oromis said with a smile.

"I'm confused" Eragon said

"Very good. That was the point. There are some questions we might never find the answers to Eragon. The objective is to remain open to them. So let's go on with another topic. Have you any guesses at the similarity between gems and bodies that allow both to store energy…?"

A thousand questions stormed Eragon's mind ranging from _Are they both alive?! The dwarves could be right after all!_ To _Hey, I'm not finished with the earlier topic, what's our emotions and sentience got to do here in this world then?_

Eragon then remembered Oromis's recent words.

 _We might never find the answers, the objective is to remain open to them._

Saphira said something finally, after having processed everything carefully _I think it's a lot of thought for little yield_

 _Indeed_ Eragon said. He had another lesson to take to.


End file.
